Tales of Drudgery & Boredom.

Tag: gaming

Holy Shit, I Interviewed the President — MediumLegacy media isn’t mocking us because we aren’t a legitimate source of information; they’re mocking us because they’re terrified. Their legitimacy came from the fact that they have access to distribution channels and that they get to be in the White House press pool because of some long-ago established procedures that assumed they would use that power in the public interest. In reality, those things are becoming less and less important and less and less true. Distribution is free to anyone with a cell phone and the legitimacy of cable news sounds to me like an oxymoron. The median-aged CNN viewer is 60. For Fox, it’s 68.

Tough times on the road to Starcraft – Code Of HonorI’ve been writing about the early development of Warcraft, but a recent blog post I read prompted me to start scribbling furiously, and the result is this three-part, twenty-plus page article about the development of StarCraft, along with my thoughts about writing more reliable game code.

The Leaning Buildings of Santos, Brazil | Amusing PlanetThe coastline along the city of Santos, some 80 km from Sao Paulo, in Brazil, offers a strange sight. Like dominoes about to topple, the waterfront is lined by a string of high rise apartments that are unmistakably tilted to one side.

What should I do about Youtube? | Zoë KeatingMy Google Youtube rep contacted me the other day. They were nice and took time to explain everything clearly to me, but the message was firm: I have to decide. I need to sign on to the new Youtube music services agreement or I will have my Youtube channel blocked.

Lost Garden: Top 5 design debates I ignored in 2014Back in the 80’s and 90’s, when conversation about game design was first bubbling up out of our community of insecure practitioners, a few polarizing topics would arise again and again. You’ll recognize them: The correct definition of ‘game’ – Narrative vs Mechanics – Randomness vs Skill – The importance of realism – Casual vs Hardcore

García Media → Here are six predictions for the new yearThe year 2014 is going to be making an exit (stage left) soon, and we can already see 2015 peeking its baby head from behind the curtains. It was a year of challenges and opportunities. The new year amplifies on some of the advances of 2014. What’s ahead? Here are six predictions.

If Mary and Joseph tried to reach Bethlehem today, they would get stuck at an Israeli checkpointPalestinian Christians complicate the simplistic narrative of “Muslims v Jews”; they are an inconvenient reminder that the conflict in the Holy Land has nothing to do with theology and everything to do with freedom and self-determination. Whatever your view of Jesus or Muhammad, if you are a Palestinian resident of the West Bank you are a victim of the longest military occupation in the world.

Gamasutra – The History of CivilizationGamasutra is proud to be partnering with the IGDA's Preservation SIG to present detailed official histories of each of the first ten games voted into the Digital Game Canon. The Canon "provides a starting-point for the difficult task of preserving this history inspired by the role of that the U.S. National Film Registry has played for film culture and history", and Matteo Bittanti, Christopher Grant, Henry Lowood, Steve Meretzky, and Warren Spector revealed the inaugural honorees at GDC 2007. This latest piece follows the carrer of industry icon Sid Meier as he established himself as one of the most important contributors to PC gaming with the iconic turn based strategy epic Civilization

Netanyahu finally speaks his mind | The Times of IsraelAt his Friday press conference, the prime minister ruled out full Palestinian sovereignty, derided the US approach to Israeli security, and set out his Middle East overview with unprecedented candor. His remarks were not widely reported; they should be

Twitter User Stats Crackdown – Business InsiderTwitter has taken the unusual step of shutting off its datapipe to certain companies that have published their own stats on how big Twitter's user base really is, according to two sources. The move comes after Twitter's stock was hammered in the early part of the year when investors discovered growth in monthly active users (MAUs) was slowing or stagnant, and that measures of engagement per user were on the decline.

The Olympic CityThe Olympic City is an ongoing documentary photography project by Jon Pack and Gary Hustwit that looks at the legacy of the Olympic Games in former host cities around the world. Hosting the Olympics has become a way for a city to show itself off on an international stage and generate toursim dollars, and cities spend millions or billions for the privilege. But after the events are over, the medals have been handed out, and the torch is extinguished, what’s next? What happens to a city after the Olympics are gone?

(2) More Details on Today’s OutageEarly today Facebook was down or unreachable for many of you for approximately 2.5 hours. This is the worst outage we’ve had in over four years, and we wanted to first of all apologize for it. We also wanted to provide much more technical detail on what happened and share one big lesson learned.

The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds «Before Risk, before Dungeons & Dragons, before Magic: The Gathering, there was Diplomacy. One writer enters international competition to play the world-conquering game that redefines what it means to be a geek (and a person).

Alien: Dan O’Bannon’s list of design requests for H.R. GigerTHE ALIEN, THIRD (MATURE) PHASE. Having left its victim, the Alien promptly grows to man-size, whereupon it is terrifically dangerous. It is very mobile, strong, and capable of tearing a man to pieces. It feeds on human flesh. This creature should be a profane abomination. Our producers have suggested that something resembling an over-sized, deformed baby might be suffieciently loathsome. In any event, we wish you to feel free to create your own design.

Why I won’t be using Google In January — MediumThe story's all over the Internet— and if you’re the type of person to read a Medium article explaining why someone’s boycotting Google, you’re probably already familiar with it. The gist is as follows: RapGenius offers incentives to blog-posters to add links about Justin Bieber to their blogs- which increases RG’s link relevancy piloting them to the top of Google Search Queries. Google gets mad — and ‘punishes’ (read: fatally attacks) them by knocking all RapGenius links into siberia.

Top Science Longreads of 2013 – Phenomena: Not Exactly Rocket ScienceI’m really optimistic about the future for long, deep, rich science reporting. There are more places that a publishing it, more ways of finding it, and a seemingly huge cadre of people who are writing it well. So without further ado, here’s a list of my top pieces of the year. It has blossomed to 15 from last year’s 12 because I was gripped by indecision and they’re all so good.

The making of…Dune II | Features | Edge OnlineIt is rare indeed for a single game to become the progenitor of an entire new genre. Although it had its precedents, with some fans attempting to retcon a gaggle of faintly similar 8bit titles for the role, the world’s first realtime strategy game can be named with little real controversy. But going back to Dune II today is an eye-opening experience, as it becomes clear how very little the genre has moved forwards – like finding out Halo had really been released in 1982. The same basic viewpoint, interface, controls and gameplay underpinning Dune II are still being reused today, with only the most minimal level of evolutionary advancement.

Using Computer Modern on the webThe cm-unicode project compiles versions of the Computer Modern fonts in a few formats, including TTF. I've run them through codeandmore's @font-face kit generator and FontSquirrel to get all the weird formats that the various browsers insist on. This page shows off each typeface, with links to packages containing everything you need to use them in your own pages.

48fps: how we accidentally invented Impressionist filmmaking | The Verge ForumsWatching Journey, it's clear that widespread adoption of High Frame Rate filmmaking would cause even greater issues. This isn't simply a matter of relearning how to do wardrobe, how to build a set, and how to light a scene. Acting is an entirely different matter here. Martin Freeman is one heck of a funny actor. We see him bumbling and confused, twisting his head back and forth comedically. We know that he's funny, and we know the joke — somehow, however, the frame rate disrupts his timing. It all takes a bit too long, and the sharp impact is gone.

Pick Your Battles « I am ZefI know it’s exciting to plan for a system that’s ready for Google-like traffic — but seriously, focus on something people want first. You will have to go through multiple refactors of your infrastructure. There’s not a chance in the world you will get it right the first time, so don’t assume you will.

The Mind of a Chef | Watch Online | PBS VideoFrom ramen to rotting bananas, Copenhagen to Kansas City, and pork buns to golf clubs, PBS’s new series The Mind of a Chef combines travel, cooking, history, science, and humor into an unforgettable journey. Executive producer and narrator Anthony Bourdain takes viewers inside the mind of noted Korean-American chef and restaurateur David Chang.

DominionStrategy WikiThe Dominion Strategy Wiki was launched in October 2012 as a resource of knowledge and strategy about the card game Dominion. As part of Dominion Strategy, it was started by members of the Dominion Strategy Forum as a space where Dominion information can be developed in an open environment. We currently have 346 articles on a variety of Dominion-related topics.

News – Enhance the gameplay in your edition of Baldur’s Gate from GOG.com – GOG.comBaldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II remain cult classics not only among D&D fans, but cRPG gamers in general. With countless hours of gameplay, captivating stories, colorful characters, and many memorable locations they're one of the most intense and extensive role-playing experiences you can get while sitting in front of your PC. But to say that they didn't age at all might be a bit of a stretch. That's why some people would go a great distance modding and upgrading both those titles to combine them into one, seamless, visually updated game–an enhanced edition, if you will.

Brian Phillips on Olympic rhythmic gymnastics – GrantlandThere is, in the contrast between the poise and seriousness of the athletes and the princessy kitsch of the setting, something really kind of dark and wonderful. Just imagine it: devoting your life, mercilessly and with absolute commitment, to the task of dancing with little twirly clubs to a synth-folk soundtrack while wearing a spangled bathing suit designed to look like ladybug wings. Imagine doing that as well as it can humanly be done, being the person who embodies that accomplishment. I'm not making fun of anyone; I find it strangely noble.

Ask H&FJ: Four Ways to Mix FontsIs there a way to know what fonts will work together? Building a palette is an intuitive process, but expanding a typographic duet to three, four, or even five voices can be daunting. Here are four tips for navigating the typographic ocean, all built around H&FJ's Highly Scientific First Principle of Combining Fonts: keep one thing consistent, and let one thing vary.

I’ve been playing the same game of Civilization II for almost 10 years. This is the result. : gamingI've been playing the same game of Civ II for 10 years. Though long outdated, I grew fascinated with this particular game because by the time Civ III was released, I was already well into the distant future. I then thought that it might be interesting to see just how far into the future I could get and see what the ramifications would be. Naturally I play other games and have a life, but I often return to this game when I'm not doing anything and carry on. The results are as follows.

Fantastic Sources for Free Soundtrack Music — Life ScoopBack in the pre-digital days of video creation, directors without the cash to commission original soundtracks to their films had to rely on library music. The folks who put together these massive libraries owned all the rights to the music outright, so it was easy to license recordings for creators to use in their films, TV, and radio pieces. A TV director would flip through his network's sound library records, pick the track, and then pay for the license. (In recent years, some outré 1960s and 1970s library music has become very collectible amongst a certain breed of vintage vinyl addicts.) Physical sound libraries, and their associated licensing fees, are still around, albeit in entirely digital form.

Stephen Wolfram Blog : The Personal Analytics of My LifeJALOERS.
"One day I’m sure everyone will routinely collect all sorts of data about themselves. But because I’ve been interested in data for a very long time, I started doing this long ago. I actually assumed lots of other people were doing it too, but apparently they were not. And so now I have what is probably one of the world’s largest collections of personal data. "

How I Helped Destroy Star Wars Galaxies » Medium DifficultyI couldn’t even bring myself to fight back. I just stood there. I was one of the few true Dark Jedi Masters, and I let him kill me. That very act illustrated perfectly what SOE did wrong. Those of us who had faithfully put in the hours and weeks and months required to earn those lightsabers were spit on and betrayed by the very architects of the game we loved.